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Thursday, October 6, 2011

Warmer Air

Jeremy Geddes has been hard at work, producing pieces for his upcoming show at Jonathan Levine Gallery next year. Most of the work will be figurative, departing from his past 'Cosmonaut' series. However, Jeremy has decided to do three last paintings exploring the cosmonaut theme, all of them miniature. Here is the first of the three said paintings, entitled 'Warmer Air'. The piece is typical of Geddes' work, moody and highly detailed. What makes the level of detail even more amazing is the painting's size... just 13 x 22 inches!

Jeremy is offering limited prints of this piece, reproducing the image at it's actual size. More info on the print can be found HERE.

I'm surprised how acoustically rich Jeremy’s paintings are, but paradoxically so full of silence. That spreading silence is so beautiful, and so ambiguously threatening. It makes my internal dialog shut up, and makes me feel more alive, more present.

Art most certainly does not have to be affirming in any way. However, when I view his work, specifically the cosmonauts, I see dreamy, still, quiet, airy imagery, floating and otherworldly, the birds can only be lifting these people up.

Absolutely, it would be boring if cinemas only showed comedies, but not all comedies are uplifting, and not all dramas and mysteries are depressing.

Art that reaches for something uplifting, or noble, or just plain old good takes many, many forms. So often we think this subject is "boring", and that exciting or edgy art is that which is dark, or disturbing, but really... I think that is a very limited view. All one has to do is look at the span of art history (including literature, music, theater, etc.) throughout the ages. The ideal, the "good", the beautiful has driven artists to reach for something higher since the first brush touched canvas. It is a primal creative force.

That's not to say that all art need be this way, of course not, but it always saddens me a bit when such a truly, and amazingly gifted artist like Geddes has a body of work that is comprised of images that are cynical, or negative. I'm always left feeling... robbed. (Robbed of seeing something really special.)

"All one has to do is look at the span of art history (including literature, music, theater, etc.) throughout the ages. The ideal, the "good", the beautiful has driven artists to reach for something higher since the first brush touched canvas. It is a primal creative force."

Where do you get that from? Some of historys most famous plays are tragedies. And what about Borsch, Rembrandt, Goya or Giger? Art without conflict is ultimately boring. It's both the good and bad experiences in your life that shape you as a person. The good ones make you feel safe, but without the bad ones there is never any progress. Light and dark are two sides of the same coin and you can't have one without the other.

And I agree with Jason. I don't find this piece to necessarily be negative. In fact, if you analyze it it has a bit of both qualities. There's a contrast between the light and dark. And a sense of lightness and weight that just seems to enforce the feeling weighlessness the entire piece is trying to convey. Suppose that the bird is a symbol of hope that lifts you out of the darkness.

"Light and dark are two sides of the same coin and you can't have one without the other."

Untrue. Light can exist without darkness, because light IS something. Darkness is just the absence of light. It is the same with good an evil. Good can most definitely exist without evil. It is the stronger force as it is the positive. Good is creation, and life. Evil is the corruption of good- destruction and death. But, I digress...

I agree with you on this piece. ("Warmer Air".) There is a contrast between the light and dark. (And let me say that his work is TRULY BREATHTAKING. Good grief, what a talent.) ...But I was reacting to the body of his work on his site. ...I've mentioned it here before, but one thing that concerns me is the focus on nihilism, cynicism, and just negative imagery that seems to dominate illustration today. It simply is in fashion, understand that, but as I've said before, this is just me, but I think art has such power that it ought to be used to lift people up, rather than bring them down.

I would NEVER agree to forcing anyone to work with such an aim, let each man create from his heart, but I believe there is a responsibility given to those who have such talents. A responsibility to do good.

As I said, that's just me. Let each do as he sees fit.

Some of Bosch's work was dark, yes, but you ignore the context. He was showing condemnation within the Christian theological framework of human redemption. The point was not to revel in the horror, but to be repelled by it, and so be drawn to something better.

Rembrandt, who work was literally pretty dark, also painted some philosophically dark stuff, but again, it was always with the larger context of his beliefs. Not darkness for darkness' sake.

Goya and Giger? Yep. Pretty dark, but I never said that dark and disturbing were not also driving creative forces. What I said was that the "good" is a primal creative force. It is. Just go to a museum, any gallery will do. This in no way denies darkness as being a creative force.

But I do believe in the entire scope of art and music history you will find that reaching for the good has always been the greater force.